In other words having a large number of Defense stations in the area can't really hurt.

Also:
"I've got more guns than you do" - Howard Saint (The Punisher Movie)
and;
"It is the rule in war, if our forces are ten to the enemy's one, to surround him; if five to one, to attack him; if twice as numerous, to divide our army into two." - Sun Tzu

In other words the best defense is to have more guns to bring to bear against your enemy than your enemy has to bring to bear against you. Hence... large numbers of the best defense stations credits can buy.

You need to say what it is you want to defend before you can have a useful answer. It certainly makes no sense to build even a single Golan II if all you're defending is a couple facilities. I would note too, that in general ships are a better investment for defense over stations for all the same reasons that tanks were a better investment than the Maginot Line. There are many reasons that stationary fortifications are sometimes not worth the trouble, and in a universe where we don't pay for travel expenses like fuel, those reasons are greatly amplified.

If you really want stationary fortifications, powerful shields and many weapons that can reach into orbit from the surface are probably more effective than stations. Distributing 20+ Planet Defenders across the surface is going to cost less than a Golan and be a much greater deterrent. Only the largest super-caps would go up against many Defenders at once. And finally, the best defense is likely to be in where you find your friends. Freelancers who don't have faction affiliations are going to be targeted by all factions as soon as EvE is enabled. There are going to be severe consequences for needing to do your own thing, and there is little anyone can do about this but join a faction.

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My psychiatrist told me I was crazy and I said I want a second opinion. He said okay, you're ugly too.

At the moment it would at least appear that any small formation of stations will be vulnerable to enemy ships massing within range of only one at a time and working there way around so that they can never focus their collective fire power on them at one time. They also have the advantage of being able to recharge their shields between each station so unless you're going to have reinforcements I doubt multiple stations will be a sensible use of resources.

There's also the problem of convincing players to waste their game time sitting aboard a station waiting for it to be attacked. Good luck with that. This is one of the reasons I like surface caps. The best defenses are those that work when needed.

Edited By: Gort Horth on Year 13 Day 276 11:47____________

My psychiatrist told me I was crazy and I said I want a second opinion. He said okay, you're ugly too.

Get an A-wing or Eta-2, and just use the speed and maneuverability and just run for it, Over time, Everyone will wipe each other out, You can't compare to the veteran billionairs, So just run around difficult to catch until the spark of violence calms down, then resume life as a trader under the protection of the Victorious government.